There are many circumstances in the oil industry where it is desirable to cut into or through downhole tubular goods within a well. For example, in the course of drilling a well, the drill pipe may become stuck at a downhole location. This may result from "keyseating" or as a result of cuttings which settle within the well around the lower portion of the drill string. In order to remove the drill string from the well, it may be necessary to sever the drill pipe at a location above the stuck point. Similarly, it is often necessary to carry out downhole cutting operations during the completion or operation or abandonment of oil or gas wells. For example, it is sometimes desirable to sever casing or tubing at a downhole location in order to make repairs or withdraw the tubular goods from a well which is being abandoned or repaired. In most cases, the pipe is reusable. In other circumstances, it is desirable to cut slots, grooves or perforations in downhole tubular goods. Thus, it is a common expedient to perforate the casing and surrounding cement sheath of a well in order to provide fluid access to a hydrocarbon bearing formation. Similarly, it is sometimes desirable to perforate tubing in the completion or recompletion of a well.
Chemical cutters can be used to significant advantage in the application of chemicals to cut, sever or perforate downhole tubular goods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,918,125 to Sweetman discloses a downhole chemical cutter which employs cutting fluids that react violently with the object to be cut with the generation of extremely high temperatures sufficient to melt, cut or bum the object. In the Sweetman procedure, halogen fluorides are employed in jet streams impinging on the downhole pipe to sever or perforate the pipe. The attendant reaction is highly exothermic and the pipe is readily penetrated. Examples of chemical cutting agents disclosed in Sweetman are fluorine and the halogen fluorides including such compounds as chlorine trifluoride, chlorine monofluoride, bromine trifluoride, bromine pentafluoride, iodine pentafluoride and iodine heptafluoride. The cutting fluid is expelled from the tool through radial ports in jet cutting streams. In Sweetman, the cutting ports extend radially from a central bore within the discharge head of the cutting tool which terminates in a reduced diameter bore which is open to the lower or front end of the cutting tool. The reduced diameter bore is internally threaded to receive a threaded plug which closes the lower end of the bore.
As further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,318 to Terrell et at., objects may be perforated or in some instances, completely dissolved with no debris left in the well through the use of a downhole chemical cutter. As disclosed in this patent, the chemical cutting tool may be provided with a downwardly extended nozzle provided with a suitable stand-Off sleeve. In addition to the halogen fluoride cutting agents as disclosed in the aforementioned patent to Sweetman, further cutting agents as disclosed in the Terrell et at. patent include nitrogen fluoride sources
Other than the particular adaptation of a nozzle configuration as described in the aforementioned Terrell et al. patent, the normal practice in severing downhole tubular goods is to arrange the cutting ports which are located on the circumference of the cutting head radially and perpendicular to the centerline of the tool, defining a disk-like planar pattern. Thus, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,507 to Sweetman, a cutting head is disclosed in which a plurality of jet passages of restricted diameter extend radially through the wall of the cutting head body in a single plane perpendicular to the vertical centerline of the head. A similar configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,161 to Chammas. Here, the cutting head is a cylindrical member provided with a plurality of discharge ports arranged radially about the outer diameter of the head through which the chemical cutting agent issues in a plane generally perpendicular to the vertical centerline of the head. The cutting ports are bridged with a piston provided with o-rings to prevent the entry of fluids through the ports. A lower portion of the tool is provided with openings through which well fluid exerts hydrostatic pressure on the bottom of the piston, holding the piston in place before the tool is fired.
Yet another chemical cutting tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,601 to Pratt et al. Here, a lower part of the cutting head structure is open to well fluid and a piston plug is interposed immediately above the cutting ports. The cutting ports may be closed to the exterior of the well by means of an internal sleeve positioned in the bore of the cutting head immediately in front of the piston. As in the cutting tools described above, the cutting ports lie in a single plane perpendicular to the centerline of the tool.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,174 discloses a chemical cutting tool incorporating a cutting head assembly for use in cutting high strength and corrosion resistant tubular goods such high chrome-nickel stainless steel. This cutting tool comprises a chemical section adapted to contain chemical cutting agent and a cutting section adapted receive the chemical cutting agent from the chemical section. The cutting section has a plurality of cutting ports which are arranged in first and second groups. The first and second groups of cutting ports have generally conforming pattern and are in a canted relationship with respect to one another. At least some of the cutting ports in one group are in a staggered relationship longitudinally along the tool body relative to cutting ports in the other group. In one embodiment of this cutting tool, the ports are arranged circumferentially of the tool body and provide first and second planar patterns in a converging relationship such that they intersect their locus externally of the tool body. Alternatively, the cutting ports are arranged in first and second ring-shaped configurations defining an annular relationship with the cutting ports on the inner ring configuration being on a different radii than those on the outer ring configuration.
An accumulation of ignitor material is interposed between the chemical section and the chemical ports such that when the tool is activated to dispense the chemical cutting agent, it traverses the ignitor material. The ignitor material is formed of a permeable accumulation of first and second metal components, such steel wool or other similar metal having a intermeshing fillamentry structure and chips, powders or shavings from high melting point metal such chromium, nickel, titalium and titanium. The steel wool can be mixed with oil or another hydrocarbon. The ignitor hair can also be formulated of predominately non-ferrous material. For example, the stainless steel shavings or other non-ferrous powders, chips or filings can be mixed with oil or other similar organic material.
Yet another chemical cutting tool which is useful in cutting large diameter tubular goods within a well is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,920 to Terrell. This chemical cutting tool is effective in large diameter conduits having a diameter of about 8 inches to one foot or even larger. In this tool, the cutting section has a plurality of externally upset cutting heads which extend outwardly from the cutting section. Each of these externally upset cutting heads has a plurality of cutting ports. Here, ignitor material may be located in a central conduit interposed between the chemical section and the cutting section similarly as in the cutting head of U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,174 or alternatively, the ignitor material may be located in bores within each of the upset cutting heads or spokes as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,920.